Spring-type exerciser

ABSTRACT

Two handles are attached to a bar which is suspended by a plurality of resilient members from an overhead support and which is within reach of an erect person who may grip these handles to perform oscillatory or gyrating body motions at a natural frequency determined by the spring constant and body mass; the feet of the user may be positioned on a spring-centered mobile base that is reciprocably mounted. The bar may be hollow to receive therethrough a cord made up of the resilient members. The resilient members may be attached at the respective ends of the bar. The bar may also be secured by resilient members at points on the overhead support that are spaced apart by a distance greater than the length of the bar.

nited States Patent [191 Geiger SPRING-TYPE EXERCISER Inventor:Friedrich Geiger, Burgstrasse 1,

8901 Todtenweis, Germany Filed: Dec. 29, 1972 Appl. No.: 319,167

Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 30, 1971 June 5, 1972 Germany2227239 US. Cl 272/82, 272/80, 272/62,

272/83 R, 272/60 R Int. Cl. A63b 21/00, A63b 23/02 Field of Search272/83 R82, 76, 78, 57 R,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1926 Wendelken 272/83 R 4/1966Wolski et a1. 272/83 R L 8/1970 Kane 272/62 X Germany 2165488 1 1]3,825,252 July 23, 1974 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham AssistantExaminer-William R. Browne Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Karl F. Ross;Herbert Dubno [57] ABSTRACT Two handles are attached to a bar which issuspended by a plurality of resilient members from an overhead supportand which is within reach of an erect person who may grip these handlesto perform oscillatory or gyrating body motions at a natural frequencydetermined by the spring constant and body mass; the feet of the usermay be positioned on a spring-centered mobile base that is reciprocablymounted. The bar may be hollow to receive therethrough a cord made up ofthe resilient members. The resilient members may be attached at therespective ends of the bar. The bar may also be secured by resilientmembers at points on the overhead support that are spaced apart by adistance greater than the length-of the bar.

7 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures MENTES M2319 3.825.252 SHEET 20$ 6PATENHDJULZZQH SHEET t UP 6 PATENTEMmzsasm SHEET 5 [1F 6 tion;

I SPRING-TYPE EXERCISER FIELD OF THE INVENTION My present inventionrelates to a body exerciser of the type wherein a pair of spring-loadedhandles, anchored to a stationary structure, can be gripped by the handsof a user for the training and strengthening of body muscles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 1 The generalobject of my present invention is to pro vide an improved device, ofsimple construction, designed to involve the entire body withsimultaneous engagement of all four limbs in an exercise or a variety ofexercises requiringno mechanical readjustments or complex programming.

A related object is to provide an exerciser of this character whichsubjects the limbs and the torso of the user to a stretching action,e.g., to help correct spinal deformities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These objects are realized, in accordance withmy invention, by mounting thev handles on a spring-loaded support whichis suspended from an overhead structure and swingable in at least onevertical plane, the handles in their normal (retracted) position beingbarely within reach of a person standing beneath that structure; as theperson grips these handles, his or her body undergoes an oscillatorymotion in the swing plane at a natural frequency determined by thespring constant of the support and by the mass of the persons body.

If the handle support is mounted for omnidirectional swinging, theoscillatory motion may expand into a gyration about a vertical axisdefined by the point of suspension (or the geometrical center of anarray of such points) and by the feet of the user planted on the floordirectly below that point. In either case, virtually the entire body isinvolved in alternate stretching and relaxation with exercising of theaffected muscles.

According to another feature. of my'invention, the feet of the user neednot rest firmly on the floor but may be engaged by a mobile base, suchas a pair of roller skates (which could be fixedly interconnected),

.. ter that base with reference to the suspension point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other features of myinvention will now be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

.FIG. 1 is a side-e'levational view of my improved body exerciser and ofa user performing an oscillatory mo- FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1,illustrating a gymtory motion;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of the exerciser;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the exerciser drawn-to the scale of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detail view drawn to a still larger scale, showing one ofseveral fasteners included in the device;

FIG. 10 is another view similar to FIG. 1, showing a" furtherembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a front-elevational view of still another embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 11, showing still anotherembodiment; and

FIG. 14 is a side-elevational view, partly in section, of a modificationof the embodiment of FIG. 13.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 7, an exerciser according to my inventioncomprises an overhead structure 1, specifically a flat rail, secured tothe ceiling 19 of a room by anchor screws 20. Spring clips 2 areremovably engaged in lateral bores of the rail 1 and carry respectivecoil springs3 which are hooked into these clips attheir upper ends andare secured at their lower ends to a horizontal supporting member in theform of a round bar 4. Two handles 5 are attached, at spaced locations,to the bar 4 so as'to be just barely within reachof a person standingerect on the floor below when the springs 3 are fully contracted asshown in the central position of FIG. 1; the user gripping these handlescan then swing his body to the left and to the right, with his feetremaining rooted to the floor, so as to oscillate between the twoillustrated-extreme positions at a natural frequency determined by themass of his own body (the mass of the exerciser itself being relativelynegligible) and the elasticity of the spring assembly 3.

top plan view of the embodiment of FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the user without lifting his feet off the spotoccupied in FIG.'1 can set his body in revolving motion, with alternatecontraction and expansion of individual springs 3 whose elasticitytherefore controls the angular frequency. As with the oscillatorymovement of FIG. 1, there occurs a periodic force transfer between thebody muscles and the springs.

As best shown in FIGS. 3-7, each handle 5 corrgprises the looped lowerend of a strap 9 which is wound about lower and upper legs 10, 11 of abuckle 6 bent partly around the bar 4; the latter is-provided withvertical bores8 receiving the ends 7 of the wire forming the buckle.With the free end of the strap 9 also threaded through the buckle, theeffective length of this strap can be' readily adjusted. The handlefurther includes a handgrip 14 which is fastened by an eye 15 to thestrap 9 with the aid of stitching 13 holding the loop-forming strap endin place.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, theuser may also step onto a mobile base 16comprising a wheeled platfonn l7,

constituted by a pair of interconnected roller skates strapped to theusers feet, which is under pressure from counteracting springs 18tending to keep it centered below the mounting rail 1. As the body ofthe user swings back and forth, the legs undergo limited oscillations inthe same plane but in phase opposition to the motion of his body.

FIG. 9 shows the possibility of subdividing the mounting rail 1 of thepreceding Figures into two longitudinally spaced sections 1A, 18, withcorresponding subdivision of the bar 4 into two halves 4A, 48 eachsupporting one of the handles 5.

FIG. shows part of a room with a relatively low ceiling 19 leavinginsufficient space for the accommodation of tension springs 3 betweenthat ceiling and the elevated handles. In that instance the overheadstructure comprises a set of deflecting rollers 24 (only one visible)for the guidance of respective cables 23 which also pass around furtherrollers 25 and down a wall 22 into engagement with coil springs 3received in guide sleeves 26 and anchored to wall hooks 21. The freeends of cables 23 carry the handles 5, either directly or through theintermediary of a common rod 4 as in FIG. 3. Naturally, the mobile base16 of FIG. 8 could also be used in this case, underneath rollers 24.

In FIG. 11 I have shown an embodiment in which the handles 5 are theextremities of a T-bar 4' hooked onto a pair of elastic links 3, such asrubber cords, which are anchored to a pair of mounting plates 1' on theceiling at locations spaced apart by a distance substantially greaterthan the length of the bar 4'. In the retracted position illustrated inheavy lines, these links are nearly horizontal; when the T-bar 4 ispulled down, as indicated in lighter traces (arrow A), these linksinclude a progressively smaller angle with each other. FIG. 12 showsthat there may be a plurality of such cords on each side of the web ofT-bar 4 to which they are fastened. FIG. 13 depicts a direct attachmentof a pair of such cords 3' to the handles 5' at the ends of a round bar4a resembling the bar 4 of preceding Figures; the mounting plates 1 arehere secured, at suitable elevation, to the jambs of a door 27. In FIG.14 a tubular bar 4b is used, the links 3" here forming part of a singleelastic cord passing longitudinally through that bar.

Within the limits of compatibility, various features shown in differentFigures may be combined with or substituted for one another. These andother modifications, readily apparent to persons skilled in the art, areintended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of my inventionexcept as otherwise limited in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A body exerciser comprising an overhead structure, and spring-loadedsupport means suspended so as to permit unrestricted lateral pulls indifferent directions by a user, said support means being provided with apair of handles barely within reach of a person stand ing erect undersame, said support means being movable by the person in a verticaldirection with reference to said structure and permitting the persongripping said handles to carry out an oscillatory body motion at anatural frequency determined by the spring constant of said supportmeans and by the mass of the person's body said support means comprisingonly one elongated horizontal member, said handles being at spacedapartpositions on said horizontal member, said member being a bar havingconnected thereto a plurality of ends of respective elastic elements,the opposite ends of said elastic elements being connected to saidoverhead structure at spaced-apart locations.

2. A body exerciser as defined in claim 1 wherein said handles areprovided with releasable fastening means securing same to said bar.

3. A body exerciser as defined in claim 2 wherein said fastenaing meansinclude straps of adjustable length.

4. A body exerciser as defined in claim 1 wherein said elastic elementsare coil springs.

5. -A body exerciser as defined in claim 1 wherein said elastic elementsare anchored to said overhead structure at locations spaced apart bymore than the length of said bar.

6. A body exerciser as defined in claim 3 wherein said bar is tubular,said elastic elements being part of a cord passing longitudinallythrough said bar.

7. A body exerciser as defined in claim 1, further comprising mobilebase means underneath said structure engageable by the feet of theperson and reciprocably movable by the person during an exercise, saidbase means being provided with resilient centering means opposing itsreciprocation.

1. A body exerciser comprising an overhead structure, and spring-loadedsupport means suspended so as to permit unrestricted lateral pulls indifferent directions by a user, said support means being provided with apair of handles barely within reach of a person standing erect undersame, said support means being movable by the person in a verticaldirection with reference to said structure and permitting the persongripping said handles to carry out an oscillatory body motion at anatural frequency determined by the spring constant of said supportmeans and by the mass of the person''s body said support meanscomprising only one elongated horizontal member, said handles being atspaced-apart positions on said horizontal member, said member being abar having connected thereto a plurality of ends of respective elasticelements, the opposite ends of said elastic elements being connected tosaid overhead structure at spacedapart locations.
 2. A body exerciser asdefined in claim 1 wherein said handles are provided with releasablefastening means securing same to said bar.
 3. A body exerciser asdefined in claim 2 wherein said fastenaing means include straps ofadjustable length.
 4. A body exerciser as defined in claim 1 whereinsaid elastic elements are coil springs.
 5. A body exerciser as definedin claim 1 wherein said elastic elements are anchored to said overheadstructure at locations spaced apart by more than the length of said bar.6. A body exerciser as defined in claim 3 wherein said bar is tubular,said elastic elements being part of a cord passing longitudinallythrough said bar.
 7. A body exerciser as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising mobile base means underneath said structure engageable by thefeet of the person and reciprocably movable by the person during anexercise, said base mEans being provided with resilient centering meansopposing its reciprocation.